History of Gaming

Do you want to know the amazing story of how video games came to be the way they are today? I found this great 5 Part documentary series that takes us through Pong being made on an oscilloscope( I think ), to the Virtual Worlds we have today. And every beautiful Ms. PacMan, Legend of Zelda, Tetris and Leisure Suit Larry story in between. Although it talks mostly about Atari's scandals, it touches on others. Like the feud between Nintendo and Sony that dates back to the change from cartridges to disc. I loved this series. It was like my own personal histroy in front of me. Every console, every hype, to live through that. Fuck the Baby boomers and thier Televisions. We have FREAKN! VIDEO GAMES!!!!

You wanna know how long I've been playing Video Games? Well, I remember as a kid recording programs over the radio onto a cassette. Then on a camping trip to Washington, to help stop a highway being built in the neighborhood, (my mother the activist), we actually plugged in the Atari to the RV. Started playing the cassette tapes for hours, and finally after about 3 tries it would work!!! Voila! We had an amazing video game with 10 monochromatic pixels. Those were the days when software and games were all free. Now, according to the worldometers, Some 8 million $ have been spent this year on Video Games. Nice.

Discovery Channel - Rise of the Video Game Level 1
Discovery Channel - Rise of the Video Game Level 2
Discovery Channel - Rise of the Video Game Level 3
Discovery Channel - Rise of the Video Game Level 4
Discovery Channel - Rise of the Video Game Level 5

Note to all you "Viral Marketers". I'm sorry but if you don't know about video games, you have absolutly no idea why this video clogging Utube.

@Maarlooz and the twitter Love at 140conf

My roommate Marlooz gave a presentation today at the 140 conf by Jeff Pulver. Back in Kinnernet, Pulver and I where in a group talking about twitter and I shared my TwitterDate experience with Marlooz. Now Marlooz and I are roommates. He said he wanted that story at the 140conf. So Marlooz was able to go becuase it was with her vacation with her family. She is such a wholesome girl. I was helping her out with the presenation till late last night. Then this morning I see a brief twitter about her laptop being stolen.

@marlooz

"#140conf My MacBook Pro looks like this: http://mobypicture.com/?ea0wih Please keep an eye out for it. It got stolen at Touch."

Then I started to see donations flowing in after that. Briefly I was able to skype chat with marlooz, all of 3 sentences before she had to go. I had no idea how the laptop was, the presenation would go, nothing. Presentation comes and I start to see a slew of comments about it come up in my search. As the presenation was about twitter love, when people heard that Marlooz had raised some €700 for a new laptop, people started understanding love in another way.

Let me tell you something about Marlooz. She is the best roommate. We don't have much money at the place, both struggling, but she knows how to shop cheap and make money stretch. And even though I have other clients, having worked for Marlooz and get paid from her, she was fast with payment. Something I don't see often in the freelance business. And that laptop of hers was her life. Once already she had spilled water on it, and borrowed my old laptop while it dried for a week. Then just before she had to goto London to film a project, her laptop died. Luckily I still had mine, but the battery is completely shot on it, and no new batteries help. Then she was able to fix her old laptop herself, (all kinds of screws on the kitchen table and stuff). Just before leaving for the States. THEN IT GETS STOLEN!!! I can't wait to see her when she gets back and I hope that there was enough money donated so that she could buy a really great laptop while she is in New York.

An Awesome Geek Chick like Marlooz, needs a laptop!

---Update---

She has raised enough money now to get her laptop.... I see here. I guess I should start to love twitter again as well. This story has brought me over from my twitter hate.

Dream Amsterdam - Peter Funch Event

Who: Peter Funch is a Danish artist in New York that is working with the Dream Amsterdam project.

What: The artist will be making a photograpgh where he is asking for people to particiapte in. this is part of the IWONDER project of Dream Amsterdam. People are asked to bring an opbject that is dear to them from home. Peter will then make one of his famous compositions. These photographs are truly transcendent representations of the moments and the beauty in the stories that happen in cities everyday on the corner of the street.

When / Where: At Central Station in Amsterdam on Saturday June, 6 2009 @ 16:00 (4 pm). To be specific - the mid tunnel, downstairs at platform 4/5. Google Map

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Trip to see Nuno and Nikki

While at Webcom, I added a few days to stay the weekend so I could see my good friends Nuno and Nikki. I love those 2! When I arrived Nuno and I promptly started geeking out and catching up on the latest apps and tricks about vlogging, internet, and also talking about life. He talked about selling his place, staying in Waterloo, how google is moving there, and things are starting to pick up again.

Within a few hours of arriving we hit the pub where we met up with some of thier friends, and then hit a club. Lots of drinks, lots of dance, lots of fun, which eventually ended in an afterparty at Jenn's place (a friend of Nikki's). It was absolutly hilarious fun time. At one point people huddled onto the couch and started listening to all the stories I was telling about Hollywood, New York and Europe. Real fun.

Next day we hit the Diner where Nuno and Nikki met. Nuno read his comics, then we started making drawings, chilling talking, then someone ordered 2 Godfather Burgers. OMG! These things were massive! As you can see very only 40 something people have actually finished this massive burger. It reminds me of the steak in the movie "The Great Outdoors". when I asked if they had to finish the fries as well, Jenn said, "We let that slide nowadays. But I will tell you that it seems to be asians that always finish it. LOL?"

That night we initiated Nikki to The Big Lebowski. Halfway through we got hungry so Nuno and Nikki took me to Harvey's and gave me this complete artery clogging meal. Delicious!

The next day I drove back to Montreal and caught my flight back to Amsterdam, but I relived every moment the 2 days before. So much fun, such good ideas, Thanks Nuno and Nikki! U 2 ROCK!!

Interview at Webcom

At Webcom I gave an interview after my talk about the virtual immortality project. It goes on for a while, but it was a fun interview to do.

webcom : Gabe McIntyre by amicalmant

For More interviews from Webcom check Christian Aubry's page.

Our present become echos of our past online

After coming back from Webcom where I gave a presentation on Virtual Immortality, I opened up my monthly photojojo time capsule and am floored yet again. This month I see pics from when Nuno and Nikki came to visit last year. I just got back from visiting them in Canada this weekend.

Not only that but I see pics of the wedding of Hans and Neltje from last year, on a boat where this week other friends of mine will be getting married on that exact same boat.

I twittered earlier that "blogging allows me to appreciate the present, by allowing me to see through my eyes in the future, and appreciate the past which is now." Now I realize that everything becomes more cyclical in life than I had realized. As I said in my talk in Montreal, "THE APPLICATIONS AND DATA WE CREATE TODAY WILL BE OUR COMMUNICATION WITH FUTURE CULTURES AND BEINGS," and now I beleive ourselves as well.

Vondel Park Music and Bikes

The Vondel Park is where we go to listen to music, rides bikes, and be Amsterdammers. It is part of the culture here. Many times the spring comes, easter time, time for friends and family. The video is from when I went one day with my friends and surrogate family Marc, GabeB, Stephan, Kim and Suze to the park. There is nothing like it. In the video we see the typical Dutch lifestyle with a variety of bikes zooming around, some stopping to listen to the music. It is so common to hear live music in the park. Like GabeB in an upcoming video. And the song is perfect. A version of Englishman In New York.

My life is a Romance Novel?

It is somewhat scary when you are single and the universe keeps sending you weird messages. Last weekend I was casting for a role in a commercial (which I didn't get, bummer) where I was told I was going to play a "romance novel cover model" to try and pick up girls with some friends. Now on google alerts I get the message that apparently I am in one: (a review from Wild Lady (Scarlet))

"Claudia Beaumont is in danger. Gabriel MacIntyre is having real trouble convincing her of that. And he's having trouble keeping his hands off her too. It should be easy - heck she's exactly the sort of woman he loathes; but then he discovers the real LADY behind the WILD."

What the !@#$? You have a very sick sense of humor universe. Well that's what the review says. So m aybe I should start looking for my Claudia Baeumont on facebook now.

Amsterdam Movers

I've been getting rid of a lot of stuff on freecycle.org over the past week to make room for my new room mate, etc. Saturday, a bike rolls up to take my old bed away. Seriously! Actually I remember moving from a couple of apartments on bikes as well since living here in Amsterdam. So here is the proof of the pudding. Enjoy Amsterdamize!

Madrid Carnival pictures

Carnival in Madrid A great day in Madrid with Elisa and Karina, all ex-Mobuzz like myself. What a great day we had together. Thanks girls!

Here are all the pictures: